Ethnocentrisme et pragmatisme relativiste. L'Angleterre, l'Italie et l'Allemagne selon Taine

Taine is often taken to task for his reductionist deterrninism. In aesthetics his method belongs rather to pragmatic relativism. Unlike certain twentieth-century anthropologists, supporters of the doctrine of cultural relativisin, Taine does not think that cultural values are self-justifying. His « historical and undogmatic » aesthetics is based on a deep-rooted ethnocentrism which is echoed in his travel writings, where he analyses the cultures of Italy, England and Germany in the light of the artistic «perfection» of seventeenth-century France. This exemplary model sometimes leads him to conform to stereotypes and to make value judgements coloured by a questionable apriorism. He is particularly harsh on the Germons, to whom he attributes a primitive and disturbing character. Following the emotional trauma he experiences during the rout of 1870 and the Commune, he tries however to, define more precisely the character of his own country, without necessarily abandoning a certain cultural chauvinism in the fields of art and literature.pour les Allemands, auxquels il trouve un caractère primitif et inquiétant. À la suite du traumatisme émotionnel qu'il subit lors de la débâcle de 1870 et de la Commune, il cherche cependant à mieux cerner le caractère de son propre pays, sans pour autant abandonner un certain chauvinisme culturel dans le domaine de l'art et de la littérature.Whyte Peter. Ethnocentrisme et pragmatisme relativiste. L'Angleterre, l'Italie et l'Allemagne selon Taine. In: Romantisme, 2001, n°114. L'expérience du relatif. pp. 79-88